The Stellar Development Foundation (SDF) announced earlier this week that it burned 55 billion of its Stellar Lumens tokens (XLM), reducing the number of XLM in existence by about 50%. Of the remaining XLM, about half are still in SDF's possession. The decision follows SDF's earlier proposal to disable the network's inflation mechanism. SDF said its decision was due in part due to the difficulty in moving the XLM into the market.
On Wednesday, a major U.S. cryptocurrency exchange announced staking rewards, estimated at 5% annually, for eligible customers holding Tezos on the exchange. Staking lets holders earn income by participating in a network of a particular asset, and it can make the underlying blockchain of that asset more secure and efficient – in exchange for locking their assets in a staking wallet, customers are rewarded with more assets from the network. And major cryptocurrency exchange Binance continues to move into new markets, having recently registered an affiliate with authorities in South Korea. Binance is also reportedly planning to issue a won-backed stablecoin.
This week, a major U.S. fintech firm released its earnings report, which reflected that it processed $148 million in bitcoin sales in the third quarter of 2019. According to an investor letter published contemporaneously, first-time bitcoin buyers on the firm's platform approximately doubled.
A recent study by two university professors concludes that a single large player manipulated the price of bitcoin up to its peak of nearly $20,000 in 2017. The unknown manipulator allegedly operated from a single Bitfinex account and used tether to boost bitcoin's demand. Tether's general counsel called the report meritless. Also this week, Juniper Research, a fintech data analysis company, issued a report in which it found that the total value of B2B business-to-business cross-border payments stored on blockchain will exceed $4.4 trillion by 2024, up from $171 billion in 2019.
For more information, please refer to the following links:
- Stellar's Foundation Just Destroyed Half the Supply of Its Lumens Cryptocurrency
- Introducing Staking Rewards on Coinbase
- Binance Enters Korean Market With New Business Entity
- First-Time Bitcoin Buyers 'Doubled' in Square's Q3 Report
- Lone Bitcoin Whale Likely Fueled 2017 Price Surge, Study Says
- Juniper Research: Blockchain-based Cross-border B2B Transactions to Skyrocket to $4.4 Trillion by 2024
The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.